Access Account Creation

The creation of an Access Account is initialized by one of the procedures as described below.

The naming convention for an Access Account user ID is alphanumeric (for example, xyz5000), where the letter portion (lowercase) represents the initials of a person (in most cases) and the numeric part is a system-generated random number. Once created, a person can obtain the user ID and password, either by visiting an ITS Signature Station or by signing the form Access Account Acceptance Statement and the signed form then being stored in CACTUS.

Student Import

Frequency: daily

Each scheduled day, a data feed containing official student data, created from the Integrated Student Information System (ISIS), is created.

The data feed loads into CACTUS for updating records of existing users, as well as create new records, including user IDs, for users who do not yet exist in the database. If a new person already has a Friends of Penn State (FPS) account, then it will create a new Access Account user ID to be the same as his/her FPS account. If a new person does not have a FPS account, then CACTUS will randomly create a new Access Account user ID.

The import obtains data for students of the current semester and for the next two subsequent semesters.

Employee Import

Frequency: daily

Every day, a data feed is created by OHR (Office of Human Resources) from the official employee data repository, Integrated Business Information System (IBIS). The data feed contains biographical and employment information for all faculty, staff, technical service employees, and student employees. The data feed loads into CACTUS for updating records of existing users, as well as creating new records for users who do not exist in the database.

Hershey Employee Import

Frequency: daily

Information for employees of the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, located in Hershey, PA, is imported into CACTUS daily. Penn State Hershey Medical Center furnishes the data feed. The import process creates/updates user records in the same fashion as the employee import.

For-Fee Sponsored Access Accounts by Generic Import

Frequency: as needed

An individual who is not an employee nor student of the University but is affiliated with the University in some capacity may apply for a Sponsored Access Account in order to gain access the University’s online resources.

To apply, the person needs to have a University sponsor. The sponsor must be a full-time employee of the University. Requests for a Sponsored Access Account must be accompanied by a written justification. An ITS Charge Account must be established for billing purposes via the “ITS For-Fee Services” application form.

After the sponsor submits the application, a staff member in the ITS Accounts Services Office enters the required information into CACTUS and the system creates a new Access Account. If multiple accounts need to be created for a group of applicants, then required information may be placed in a file and systematically loaded into CACTUS so that all Access Accounts are automatically created at once.